Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Look perfect, even if you have a busy lifestyle

We all know how hard it is to find the time to go to the hairdresser, to the spa for mani/pedi and even harder to find some free time to go shopping for clothes, when we have a busy schedule at work and at home.
But we can't look like we are not taking care of us, so what to do?
We need to be very smart about it.

Hair is important: a bad hair day is proven to be a bad day all together!

Keep it short if you like: it's easy to wash and style 



(Photo: Actress Jenna Elfman)

Or keep it long for an easy classy updo


(Photo: Side chignon)

In fact when you have middle length hair, you need quite some time to style it every day...time you don't really have!

Men, for me you should keep you hair short. Put a bit of gel to style it with a trendy spike.



(Photo: Actor David Tennant)



(Photo: Actor Gabriel Macht)

As I already wrote in a previous article, having a nice mani pedi can make the difference on your look (for men too!). The secret is to keep your nails short and to wear a pink, neutral or transparent color (no color for men!): it will last double of the time than a dark color and even if it chips a bit, it won't look as bad as when the dark colors chip.



(Photo: Legally Blonde movie- the manicure scene)



(Photo: example of easy long lasting manicure)

For your clothes, I suggest to buy a few key items: 

- Black skinny trousers




(Photo: Burberry dark indigo trousers)

- Pencil skirts



(Photo: Moncler stretchy pencil skirt)

- A few nice tops and blouses



(Photo: Max Mara sleeveless blouse) 

No need to wear many shirts that you would have to iron all the time.

Also, invest in some good quality dresses:


(Photo: Gucci black dress with belt)

- Trendy jackets (Chanel tweed style, classic black, linen for the Summer...)



(Photo: Mango boucle' jacket)

- Beautiful flats



(Photo: Manolo hangisi flats)


(Photo: Manolo white and black Summer flats)

- Classic high heels - 1 black and 1 neutral go with absolutely everything -.

Last and very precious advice is to wear mostly monochrome clothes: I suggest navy blue, black, white and red. Easy to mix and match and by changing jewelry every time, your outfit will look different every time.  


(Photo by Gioielli Piluzza, Gold necklace with spheres pendant)

Men, you need at least 3 suits: 1 black, 1 grey, 1 blue. 
Then, a couple of dark color trousers and 3 or 4 jackets to mix and match. 
Mastering the "spezzato" (italian term for mismatched trousers and jacket) is never easy: best to have monochrome trousers and jackets, both of the same or similar fabric, unless you are wearing jeans.
The "spezzato" jacket and jeans is a wonderful casual combination for the ladies too: you look casual chic even with a T-shirt underneath the jacket.


(Photo: example of a nice looking "spezzato" suit for man)


(Photo: Actor Colin Firth at the airport in casual "spezzato" jacket and jeans)

Have lots of dress shirts with long sleeves (you can bring them to the dry cleaner every week! For some reason, men shirts cost nothing to wash at the cleaner, while women shirts cost 3 times more!): 3 or 4 whites, 1 or 2 light blu, 2 or 3 striped, 1 light pink...
Don't buy short sleeves shirts: they don't look good with anything...if you really want something with short sleeves then polo shirts look way better and they go quite well with trousers and perfectly with jeans.


(Photo: Armani dress white striped shirt)


(Photo: Lacoste navy blue Polo Shirt)
   
Last but not least, don't go out of the house without wearing perfume, because as Coco Chanel once said "a woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future" ...and I believe this is valid for men too.